Cruise missiles are subsonic munition that fly at low altitudes, making them harder to detect, but SOCOM also wants to have electronic systems that enable it to acquire and reacquire targets after it has been fired.
Some within Air Force Special Operations Command, which is part of SOCOM, are skeptical of the weapon.
“No matter the threat, air-to-air or air-to-ground, having a precision-guided cruise missile just enhances the performance and capability the AC-130 already has, but I don’t believe that equipping a stand-off precision-guided cruise will make it any more relevant, due to the capabilities and limitations of the aircraft,” B.A., a former AC-130 gunner, told Insider.
“Other aircraft platforms would be a better choice for that type of weapon system. The AC-130 was made to sit in the sky, fly counterclockwise in a circle, and engage anyone who is actively engaging the good guys. Precision missiles wouldn’t hurt, but let’s not ‘Call of Duty’ accessorize our AC-130’s!” B.A. added.
A Special Operations Floatplane
Gunships aren’t the only ones looking to stay relevant in an era of great-power competition. SOCOM is also working on modifying the MC-130J Commando II transport plane to expand its utility to address the challenges of a near-peer war.
AFSOC fields about 60 MC-130s, and the aircraft is the backbone of AFSOC’s fixed-wing fleet.
The MC-130J Commando II, the latest version, specializes in the infiltration, exfiltration, transport, and resupply of special-operations units in semi- or non-permissive environments. It can also conduct air-to-air refueling of special-operations helicopters and carry out psychological operations by broadcasting messages and dropping leaflets.
MC-130s can land almost anywhere in the world, including on beaches, deserts, and highways. They can’t land on water, but that might change by 2023.
AFSOC is working with the Air Force Research Lab’s Strategic Development Planning and Experimentation on an amphibious capability for the aircraft that would allow it to land on water too.
The program is developing a removable amphibious float modification to allow the MC-130J to land and takeoff on water if needed.
Early digital renderings of the amphibious aircraft show a pair of skids attached under the fuselage. SOCOM is using a rapid prototyping schedule that it says will allow for an operational capability demonstration in 17 months.
“This is really great news, and it also makes perfect sense,” a former MC-130 pilot told Insider. “China is our main adversary now and in the future. If as a community we want to conduct effective expeditionary operations in that part of the world, we need to have an amphibious option.”
The MC-130J Commando II Amphibious Capability, as the program is known, “is vital to future success because it will allow for the dispersal of assets within a Joint Operations Area,” Maj. Kristen Cepak, AFSOC technology transition branch chief, said in a press release, adding that dispersing amphibious MC-130s would make it much harder for an enemy to target them.
The Air Force has been working on a number of concepts to make its aircraft harder to target.
Under the Agile Combat Employment (ACE) concept, for example, F-35 fighter jets could operate in small numbers from small islands in the Pacific, increasing their survivability and expanding their operational potential, especially in a vast area like the Pacific where China’s military is expanding its reach.
New capabilities will help the military adapt to great-power competition, but that new era requires a shift in mentality too. The U.S. military has grown accustomed to operating with free reign and with few casualties, but a conflict with a near-peer threat is certain to require more risk and, most importantly, more sacrifice.
This article was written by Stavros Atlamazoglou and originally published on the Insider.
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